Round 1 and 2 voting have closed, click here to participate in Round 3.
Our Maryland Inno Madness competition is here. And we've got eight local startups vying for the coveted title of 2022 Inno Madness champion.
Inno Madness is our friendly, bracket-style challenge where readers vote to advance companies based on one question: Who would you invest in?
Whether you believe in one mission or product slightly over the other or would prefer to back a more established company versus an early-stage startup, how you answer that question is entirely up to you. The bracket is designed to shine a spotlight on eight innovative, fast-growing, Baltimore-area businesses.
The bracket was assembled after sourcing reader nominations, as well as editorial input from the Maryland Inno team. Seeding was loosely determined by fundraising so that bootstrapped companies, as well as startups with similar totals, were paired together.
Meet the participants and vote below. Read the contest rules here.
The goal of Inno Madness is to give a snapshot of some of the most promising tech companies in Maryland. It is by no means a complete list of Maryland's best startups, which is a testament to the size of the region's tech scene. It's also not just a list of the eight most-funded startups in the region. Instead, the bracket is meant to represent the full breadth and diversity of the ecosystem. In the end, think of the bracket as just a fun look into local tech companies you need to know in 2022.
First-round voting begins now and continues until just before midnight on Monday, March 7. Readers can cast one vote per round. We'll open up voting round by round, ultimately crowning a Maryland Inno Madness winner the week of March 20, culminating in a special section in the March 25 print edition.
Let's get into Round 1...
Meet the Players:
Direct Dimensions: A digital, 3D scanning company in Owings Mills. The firm uses its technology to capture real-world objects — from historic buildings to movie stars — for computerized design, archiving, analysis and digital fabrication. The company has bootstrapped its own finances since its founding in 1995.
Huntress: An Ellicott City cybersecurity services provider for small and mid-size businesses. The company secured one of the largest venture capital deals in Greater Baltimore last year at $40 million. The Series B round followed a year of growth, during which the company closed an $18 million Series A.
Kion: Fulton-based cloud management company formerly known as CloudTamer.io. The company rebranded last fall shortly after raising $10 million in Series A funding. The firm was spun out of Stratus Solutions in 2018 and helps clients navigate the internet-based software known as "The Cloud."
Opteev: A Baltimore technology company that makes products to improve health and air quality. Its latest, ViraWarn, can detect the presence of Covid-19 in the air. The firm is the result of a joint development between Novatech Inc. and Prophecy Sensorlytics.
Rose Health: A digital mental health platform that uses AI to detect depression and other mood disorders and provide support via a self-care app. The Baltimore-based company has raised $2.13 million to date, according to PitchBook, after closing its seed round with $1.75 million in January 2021.
RowdyOrb.it: A Baltimore company that aims to bring digital access and technology jobs to underserved communities and has installed over a dozen hotspots in Baltimore to provide free internet access. The organization began as a workforce training program that taught ex-offenders how to code and turned for-profit in 2018 to begin employing participants in technology jobs. The company now generates revenue through strategic partnerships and grants, and as of this year, private equity, fees for its internet capabilities and consulting.
Theta: An information technology services firm that seeks to apply equity considerations to digital solutions. The Baltimore-based startup was a 2021 graduate of Hutch, a business incubator from another local tech firm, Fearless. Theta provides digital integration, product development and management consulting.
Truvelop: A Baltimore company that uses technology to track human resources considerations and drive performance management and employee engagement to ultimately increase talent retention. The company has raised a little more than $2 million since being founded in 2019, including a $700,000 raise in January to close out its seed round. The firm also got $200,000 from the Maryland Technology Development Corp. (TEDCO) last year.
Read contest rules here.
